Pipeline Safety Bill Edges Closer To House Floor

The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously passed a bill aimed at implementing stronger safety standards for the future of pipeline construction.

In a 51-0 vote, the Pipeline Infrastructure and Community Protection Act of 2011 sailed through the committee and is one step closer to being considered on the House floor.

The legislation, co-sponsored by Committee Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), includes measures that would mandate that all new pipelines be fashioned with manual and automatic shut-off valves, including the potential for retrofitting existing pipelines as a preventative measure.

“The bill expands the integrity management program while phasing out class location requirements, thereby putting a stronger safety standard in place while taking steps to remove redundant regulations,” Dingell said during his prepared remarks. “I believe we should work to send this bill to the President’s desk and urge all members to support this bill.”

Before the bill heads to the floor of the House, it must be consolidated with a version passed by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The bill out of the Transportation and Infrastructure excludes a majority of the safety protections standards being sought by House Democrats, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The Senate Commerce Committee also passed its own version of the bill but is currently stalled in the upper chamber.

The Pipeline Infrastructure and Community Protection Act is expected to be considered by the House within the next month, sources indicate.

Economic Gurus On Super Committee: Go Big Or Go Home

President Obama’s congressional “super committee” is tasked with reducing the deficit by $1.5 trillion, but there are some who are arguing the committee should set a minimum goal of $4 trillion to effect change in the economy.  

National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Chair Erskine Bowles, former White House budget chief Alice Rivlin, Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Honeywell CEO Dave Cote spoke at a New America Foundation forum and agreed that the committee should target a higher number than the $1.5 trillion assigned to it by President Obama. 

“Four trillion is, literally the minimum that we can do,” Crapo said. “It is not the ideal.” “[And] I think we need to do it twice or three times in the next decade… Gridlock is no longer an answer.”

The group of economic gurus called on the “super committee” to go big or go home, agreeing that Congress, despite the current political climate in Washington, are capable of reaching an agreement. 

“If the don’t go big, if they aren’t bold, if they aren’t smart, I think we face the most predictable economic crisis in history,” Bowles said. “If we do nothing… I think the future of our country is not very bright.” 

Crapo and Rivlin argued that the reason the committee must pursue savings in excess of $1.5 trillion is that this figure only represents the amount by which Congress increased the nation’s debt ceiling late this summer. 

“If they only do [1.5 trillion], then they really will have failed because the will not have stabilized the debt nor shown we can solve the long-run problem,” Rivlin said.  “And they won’t have done anything about the short-run either, The only way you do that is to go big.”

Obama Responds To Release Of U.S. Hikers From Iran

The White House released the following statement from President Obama in response to the news that a pair of American hikers, who had been detained in Iran, have been released:

“I welcome the release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal from detention in Iran and am very pleased that they are being reunited with their loved ones.  The tireless advocacy of their families over these two years has won my admiration, and is now coming to an end with Josh and Shane back in their arms.  All Americans join their families and friends in celebrating their long-awaited return home.

We are deeply grateful to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the Swiss government, and to all our partners and allies around the world who have worked steadfastly over the past two years to secure the release of Shane and Josh.”

Florida Democrat Trusts Neither GOP Frontunner On Social Security

One day before Republican Presidential candidates return to Florida for the second debate in the state, Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) told reporters that he doesn’t believe either of the GOP frontrunners will protect social security.

Deutch pointed toTexas Governor Rick Perry’s description of the entitlement program as a ponzi scheme, a common complaint from Democrats, and added that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s attempts to characterize himself as social security’s defender also fall flat.

“[Romney’s] privatization plans would turn … the American citizens’ money over to the stock market,” Deutch said during a conference call. “Imagine if retirement security depended on what has happened in the stock market over the last few months and years.”

The Florida Democrat added that neither candidate came to the table with agendas that would appeal to latino voters, a key constituency in Florida. Deutch explained that not only would both candidates stances on social security appeal to Latino seniors, nearly half of whom rely on the program as their sole source on income, but that Perry and Romney both declined to support the DREAM Act, which would have granted citizenship to immigrants who joined the armed services or succeeded in college.

Report: ATF's "Fast And Furious" Project Has Claimed Hundreds Of Lives

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced Tuesday that at least 200 Mexican citizens have been killed by weapons tied to a U.S. gun-walking project gone wrong.

It’s already known that the so-called “Fast and Furious” program, authorized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, led to the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last year in Arizona. But Issa told reporters that Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales has confirmed that 200 or more Mexicans have been killed by weapons that were allowed to “walk” across the southern border and end up in the hands of dangerous drug cartels.

“[Morales has] made the point that at least 200 Mexicans have been killed with these weapons and probably countless more,” Issa said during a conference call.

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